mendation, with such speed to command you to signify the same unto me: who before remained wonderfully perplexed, fearing that her Majesty might mistake This was Prince Eric, the eldest son of the King of Sweden. The affair was entrusted to the Swedish ambassador, who, by the direction of his sovereign, made his application to the Princess the same: for which goodness I acherself, without previously consulting the Queen and her council. Elizabeth made this circumstance a pretext for rejecting a proposal which she felt no inclination to encourage, and she declared that she could never listen to any overtures of this nature, without receiving the previous sanction of her Majesty The ambassador pleaded in answer, that his master, in the character of a lover, had judged it becoming that his first application should be made to herself; but that, should he obtain her consent, he would then make his demand in form to the Queen. The Princess replied, "If it were to depend on myself, a single life would ever be my choice;" and then finally dismissed the ambassador. knowledge myself bound to honour, serve, love, and obey her Highness during my life. Requiring you also to say unto her Majesty, that in the King my brother's time there was offered me a very honourable marriage, or two; and ambassadors sent to treat with me touching the same; whereupon I made my humble suit unto his Majesty, as some yet living can testify, that he would give me leave, with his grace's favour, to remain in that estate I was, which of all others best agreed with me, or pleased me most. And in good faith, I pray you say unto her Majesty, I am even at this present moment of the same mind, and so intend to continue, with her Majesty's favour: assuring her Majesty 1 so well like this estate, as I persuade myself there is not any kind of life comparable to it. And as concerning my liking the said motion made by the said messenger, I beseech you say unto her Majesty, that in my remem brance I never heard of his master before this time; and that I so well like both the message and the messenger, as I shall most humbly pray God on my knees, that from henceforth I never hear of the one nor the other. I assure you, that if he should afterwards repair unto me, I would forbear to speak to him. And were there nothing else to move me to dislike the motion, other than that his master would attempt the same without making her Majesty privy there. to, it were cause sufficient." "Hatfield, April 26th, 1558. "SIR THOMAS POPE TO QUEen Mary. "First after I had declared to her Grace, how well your Majesty liked her prudent and honourable answer to the King of Sweden's messenger, I then opened to her the purport of the said messenger's mission; which, after her "And when her Grace had thus Grace had heard, I said your Majesty ended, I was so bold as of myself to say had sent me, not only to declare the unto her Grace, her pardon first required, same, but also to understand how her that I thought few or none would beGrace liked the said motion. Where- lieve, but that her Grace could be right unto. after a little pause, she answered; well content to marry; so that there Master Pope, I require you, after were some honourable marriage offered my most humble commendations to her her by your Majesty, or by your MaMajesty, to render unto the same like jesty's consent. Whereunto her Grace thanks, that it pleased her Majesty of answered:- What I shall do hereafter 1.er own goodness, to conceive so well I know not; but I assure you, upon my of my answer to the said messenger; truth and fidelity, and as God is merciand here withal, of her princely comful uuto me, I am not at this time other wise minded than I have declared unto the people generally. The Queen, you; no, though I were offered the greatest prince in all Europe."" Sir Thomas Pope then slyly remarks: "And yet perchance your Majesty may conceive this rather to proceed from a maidenly shamefacedness, than upon any such certain determination." few days before her demise, which took place on the seventeenth of November, 1558, sent the Countess of Feria to deliver to Elizabeth the custody of the crown jewels. To these, Philip, to claim to himself the merit of sending them, caused to be added a present of his own, a valuable casket of gems which At the period when Mary lay on her he had left at Whitehall, and which he death-bed, Elizabeth was on friendly knew Elizabeth greatly admired. In terms both with her and with Philip. compliance with Mary's request, ElizaThe Spanish King (then on the conti- beth swore to continue the church of nent), on hearing of Mary's dangerous Rome. "She prayed God," says the situation, sent Count Feria with a letter Countess of Feria, "that the earth might to her, urging her to name Elizabeth as open and swallow her alive if she were her successor. This Mary had already not a true Roman Catholic" doubtless, done; but Feria waited on the Princess a most awful perjury, Elizabeth, acon the tenth of November, and proffered cording to all evidences, being at the her the good-will of his master, with time a Protestant at heart. During whom he artfully assured her that the the last week of Mary's life the timedeclaration of the Queen in her favour serving courtiers flocked to Hatfield to had originated. She gave the ambassa- pay their adulations to Elizabeth, who, dor a cordial reception, received Philip's when informed by a deputation of the proffer of friendship with courtesy, but council, that Mary had expired, although firmly protested that it was neither to fully prepared for the announcement, him, to her sister Mary, or to the coun-affected great amazement, deeply sighed, cil that she was indebted for her position and sinking on her knees, exclaimed in the succession, but to her own birth, with a solemn voice:-"It is the Lord's and, above all, to the hearty good-will of doings! it is marvellous in our eyes!" CHAPTER IV Accession of Elizabeth-Her Privy Council-Entry into London-Preparations for her coronation-Splendid costume-Procession from Westminster to the TowerHer passage through the City-Pageants-Re-establishes the Protestant Church of England-Her reply to the Speaker's address exhorting her to marry-Proposals of marriage from Philip of Spain-The Arch-Duke Charles-The Kings of Sweden and Denmark-Popularity of Elizabeth-Her residence at GreenwichHer band of gentlemen pensioners-Her royal progresses-The Duchess of Suffolk -Royal proclamation against luxury in dress-Act of Parliament against witchcraft. there was "plentiful eating, drinking, the Charter House were laid with fine and making merry' On the following Sunday, Te Deum was sung in the churches, and the general joy among all classes was unbounded. gravel; musicians and singers were stationed by the way and a vast assemblage of people freely tendered their joyful and admiring acclamations. The Queen passed along, splendidly attired in purple robes, and mounted on her palfrey, richly caparisoned. She was preceded by her heralds and great officers of state, and returned the salutations of her loving subjects with the most graceful affability. Elizabeth held her first privy council at Hatfield. Sir Thomas Parry was declared Comptroller of her Household; Sir Edward Rogers, Captain of the Guard; and Sir William Cecil, Principal Secretary of State. The first of these personages had filled, for many years, the office of cofferer to the Princess, and Immediately on entering the royal was completely in the secret of her con- apartments in the Tower, she, on her fidential intercourse with Lord Seymour, knees, returned humble and fervent the Lord High Admiral, and whose fide- thanks to that Providence which had lity in that delicate affair had withstood hitherto protected her. How different all the threats and artifices of the Pro- must have been her sensations now from tector. Cecil was already known to the what they were when she had been led public, and his nomination to such an a prisoner under these walls! She had important office was a happy omen for formerly entered that fortress by the the Protestant cause, of which he was traitors' gate, as a terrified and defencethe adherent. He maintained a secret less Princess, without hope of deliverand intimate correspondence with Eli-ance, and apprehensive of a violent zabeth during the whole period of her death. She now returned to take legal adversity, and assisted her on many possession of it, surrounded in all the trying occasions with his salutary ad- pomp of royalty, by her ministers of vice. On appointing him a member of state, and welcomed by the applause of her privy council, Elizabeth addressed the people. She was attended on her him in the following terms:-"I give visit to the Tower by Lord Robert you this charge, that you shall be of my Dudley, one who, like herself, had been secret council, and content yourself to a prisoner there. He was now appointed take pains for me and my realm. This Master of the Ordnance, and was reopinion I have of you, that you will garded by his royal mistress with pecunot be corrupted with any gift; and liar favour. His personal graces and that you will be faithful to the state; elegant accomplishments were sufficiently that without respect to my private will, striking to dazzle the eyes and charm you will give me that counsel that you the heart of a youthful Qucen, possessed think best, and that if you shall know of a lively fancy, and now absolute misany thing necessary to be declared to tress of her own actions. The circumme of secrecy, you will show it to my-stance of his being already married, self only; and be assured I will not fail to keep taciturnity therein." On the twenty-third of November, the Queen repaired to her capital attended by a train of a thousand nobles, knights, gentlemen and ladies; and took up her temporary residence at the monastery of Chartreux, or Charter Ilouse, then the abode of Lord North. It was a splendid building, and afforded ample accommodation for a royal retinue. Her next removal, agreeably to ancient custom, was to the Tower, and on this interesting occasion, all the streets from blinded her, no doubt. as to the real nature of her sentiments towards him; or it was regarded by her as a sufficient sanction, in the eyes of the nation, for all those marks of favour and esteem with which she was pleased to honour him. The illustrious family of the Howards came in for a large share of the Queen's bounty; the Duke of Norfolk, her second cousin, was invested with the order of the Garter. Her great uncle, Lord William Howard, created Baron of Fffingham by Mary, was continued by Elizabeth in the high office of Lord Chamberlain. Lord Thomas Howard, who had treated her with distinguished respect on her arrival at Woodstock from Hampton Court, now received the title of Viscount Bindon, and continued much in favour to the end of his life. Sir Francis Knolles, whose wife was one of Elizabeth's nearest kinswomen, was sworn in a member of the privy council, together with Sir Richard Sackville. But of all her relations, Henry Carey, son of Mary Boleyn, the Queen's aunt, was the most deserving of her gratitude. He had expended thousands of his patrimony in her service, during the period of her imprisonment, and she liberally requited his friendship, by conferring on him the title of Baron Hunsdon; together with the royal residence of that name, its surrounding park, and several beneficial leases of crown lands. Lord Hunsdon, however, was as little skilled in that sentimental gallantry which Elizabeth required from her courtiers, as in the circumspect and tortuous policy which she approved in her statesmen. "As he lived in a ruffling time," says Naunton, "so he loved sword and buckler men; and such as our fathers were wont to call men of their hands; of which sort he had many brave gentlemen that followed him; yet he was not taken for a popular or dangerous person." It was said of him, that his Latin and his dissimulation were both alike, and his custom in swearing and obscenity in speech, made him appear a worse Christian than he really was." The following characteristic anecdote of this worthy is related by Fuller ;"On one occasion, his neighbour, Mr. Colt, chanced to meet him coming from Hunsdon to London, in the equipage of a nobleman of those days. The baron, on calling to mind some former grudge, gave him a sound box on the ear; Colt immediately returned the principal with interest; and thereupon his servants, drawing their swords, swarmed around him. You rogues!' said my lord, may not I and my neighbour exchange a blow but you must interfere?' His servants withdrew, and thus the quarrel was begun and ended in the same minute." 6 The Queen's attachment to her relations was so remarkable, that even Leicester, in the height of his favour, felt that he must hold sacred their claims to her regard. Accordingly he used to remark, in allusion to Sackville and HunsdonThose were of the tribe of Dan, and were Noli me tangeres!" (Touch me nots.) After spending a few days in the Tower, Elizabeth passed by water to Somerset Place, whence she removed to the palace of Westminster, where she kept her Christmas. Great preparations were now making for her coronation at Westminster Abbey. The people were resolved, on that festive occasion, to lavish, in honour of their new sovereign, every demonstration of loyalty and affec tion. The costume of that age was magnificent. Gowns of velvet or satin. richly trimmed with silk, furs, or gold lace; costly gold chains; and caps or hoods of rich materials, adorned with feathers, decorated on all occasions of ceremony the persons, not only of nobles and courtiers, but of their retainers, and even of the substantial citizens. The attire of the ladies was proportionally splendid. Hangings of cloth, of silk, and of velvet, cloth of gold and cloth of silver, or "needlework sublime," adorned, on days of family festivity, the principal chamber of every house of respectable appearance; and these on public festivals were suspended from the balconies, and combined with the banners and pennons floating overhead, gave to the streets an appearance resembling a suite of long and gaily dressed saloons. Every circumstance tended to render the public entry of Queen Elizabeth the most gorgeous, and at the same time the most imposing, spectacle ever exhibited in the capital of Britain. On the twelfth of January, 1559, her Majesty was conducted from her palace in Westminster to the royal apartments in the Tower; and a splendid water procession was appointed for the purpose. At this period, the streets of London were narrow and ill-paved, the roads bad, and the luxury of a carriage un known. The Thames, therefore, was the great thoroughfare of the metropolis. The old palace of Westminster, as well in each, who explained to the Queen, in as the palaces of Richmond and Green-English verse, the meaning of the whole. wich, the favourite summer residences The first consisted of three stories, reof the royal family, stood on its banks: presented by living figures: Henry the the court, therefore, passed from one Seventh and his royal spouse. Elizabeth palace to the other in their state barges. of York, from whom her Majesty derived The nobility were beginning to occupy, her name-Henry the Eighth and Anne with their mansions and gardens, the Boleyn, and lastly, her Majesty in per space between the Strand and the river; son, all attired in royal robes. The and it had become a prevailing fashion verses described the felicity of that union among them, to vie with each other in of the houses to which she owed her exthe splendour of their barges and the istence. The second pageant was styled richness of the liveries of the rowers, "the seat of worthy governance;" on who were all distinguished by the crests its summit sat another representative of or badges of their noble owners. The the Queen; underneath were the cardicorporation and trading companies of nal virtues, trampling under their feet the City of London possessed, as at pre- the opposite vices. The third exhibited sent, their state barges, enriched with the eight Beatitudes, all ascribed, with carved and gilded figures, and decked much ingenuity of application, to Her and trimmed with targets and banners. Majesty. The fourth represented, in These were all drawn out in grand ar- lively contrast, the images of a decayed ray; and to enliven the pomp. "the and flourishing commonwealth; and bachelors barge of the Lord Mayor's from a cave below, issued Time, leading company, viz. the Mercers', was attended forth his daughter Truth, who held in by a fost with artillery aboard, shoot- her hand an English Bible, which she ing off lustily as they went, with great offered for the Queen's acceptance. Eliand pleasant melody of instruments, zabeth received the volume, and revewhich played in a most sweet and hea-rently pressing it with both hands to venly manner.' In this state they rowed up to Westminster, and attended her Majesty with the royal barges back to the Tower. " The passage through the city took place two days afterwards. Her Majesty issued forth, drawn in a superb chariot, preceded by trumpeters and heralds in their coat-armour; and "most honourably accompanied by gentlemen, Barons, and the higher nobility of the realm; as also by a notable train of ladies. The ladies were on horseback, and both they and their lords were habited in crimson velvet, with which their horses were also capa isoned. This retinue of fair equestrians, constantly attendant on the person of the maiden queen in all her public appearances, produced a striking effect. As they approached, the air was rent by the acclamations of the citizens, who had erected across the principal streets a series of solemn pageants, in the manner of triumphant arches. On these were inscribed illustrative sentences in English and Latin: a child was stationed | her heart and her lips, declared aloud, amidst the tears and grateful benedic. tions of her people, that she thanked the city more for that gift than for all the costly magnificence they had bestowed upon her; and that she would often read over that blessed book. The last pagcant exhibited a seemly and mete personage, richly apparelled in parliamentary robes, with a sceptre in her hand, over whose head was written : Deborah, the judge and restorer of the house of Israel!' The Recorder of London then approached her Majesty's chariot, near the further end of Cheapside-where ended the long array of the city companies, which had lined the streets all the way from Fenchurch Street-and presented her with a splendid purse, containing one thousand marks in gold. To crown the whole, those two celebrated personages, Gog and Magog, deserted on this memorable day their accustomed stations in the Guild hall, and reared up their stately dimensions on each side of Temple Bar; with joined hands they supported above the |